Menachot 35 and 36 - Seeing God’s Back, with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin

Take One Daf Yomi

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 565 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

On today’s pages, Menachot 35 and 36, we encounter a startling image: God showing Moses the knot of the tefillin. Rabbi David Bashevkin joins us to explore this anthropomorphic mystery, explaining that while we can never see God’s face—the future unfolding—we can always see God’s back by looking retrospectively at our lives and history. The knot at the back of the head symbolizes how we remain tethered to the Divine even when the path ahead is unclear. What does it mean to be wrapped in a divine embrace through history? Listen and find out.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one wonderful page of Tom with each day.
0:19.7	And on today's pages, Nakhot 35 and 36, we come across this nugget. Have a listen. With regard to the verse, and all the nations of the land shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they shall be afraid of you. It is taught in a barita that Rabili Ezra the Great says, this is a reference to the philactories of the
0:39.1	head upon which the name of God is written as they demonstrate to all that the name of God is
0:45.1	called upon the Jewish people. With regard to the statement of God to Moses, and I will remove my
0:50.8	hand and you will see my back. Rabbana Abah Baibis-N-Hassida says,
0:56.6	this teaches that the Holy One, Blessed Behi,
0:59.9	showed Moses the knot of the philactories of the head.
1:03.6	What an amazing image.
1:05.2	God showing Moses, the Tafilin Shilroche, the philatries of the head,
1:09.7	the back knot.
1:12.2	It just really struck me. It's beautifully poetic. I was so moved. I did the only thing I know how to do, which is pick up
1:16.2	the phone and call my great friend and teacher and yours. Robert David Bershevkin, how are you, my friend?
1:20.8	Liel, what an absolute privilege and pleasure to be taking this much-needed respite from the world of sacrificial worship and having a
1:31.9	breather to discuss the equally important but more contemporary relevance of the world of
1:38.8	Thilin. And in this passage, which I think is so moving, the imagery does lead to a very obvious question.
1:47.5	Judaism does not believe that God has a body, that God has any physical manifestation in this world.
1:55.5	So what does it mean in this passage that, number one, we talk about the Thilin, the number one thing is that people
2:02.7	will see it and they will be afraid of you.
2:05.1	Like, what does that mean?
2:07.0	And number two, what does it mean that God showed Moshe the back knot, the Keshire, the Hebrew
2:15.1	word for not of the Thilin? what on earth does that mean? God does not
2:20.5	have a body, does not have a head? So what does it mean that God showed Moshe the knot of the
	...

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